Yielding to relentless pressure, controversial A Raja resigned on Sunday night as Telecom Minister after being ordered to do so by his party, DMK, in the wake of allegations that he caused a loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer while allocating 2G Spectrum two years ago.
Raja, the 47-year-old lawyer-politician, who got the coveted portfolio after the exit of Dayanidhi Maran in 2007 and retained it after the May 2009 elections, drove to Prime Minister's residence late on Sunday night to hand in his resignation after steadfastly refusing to do so for the past few days, even as the opposition paralysed Parliament demanding his ouster.
The resignation was submitted after he returned to Delhi from Chennai, where he met the party chief and state Chief Minister M Karunanidhi twice in the last 24 hours.
Prime Minister is expected to make a statement in Parliament on Monday on Raja's resignation and the Spectrum issue.
PMO sources said the resignation is likely to be forwarded to the President on Monday with a possible recommendation on who could takeover the portfolio, who would be most probably from the DMK.
There was speculation that the telecom portfolio would go to a DMK nominee, possibly Karunanidhi's daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi or Maran who is now the Textiles minister.
If Maran gets the Telecom portfolio, former minister T R Baalu may get Textiles.
"In order to avoid embarrassment to the Government and maintain peace and harmony in Parliament, my leader (DMK chief M Karunanidhi) has advised me to resign," Raja told PTI, breaking the news before meeting the PM.
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